Fallen Star Stories

In just another weeks' time, the Galway Dubray Books World Book Day Extravaganza will be upon us! Yes, another year of fantastic author events for the local kids is happening again, where I get to host a plethora of events and bask in the excitement and joy of reading. I'm at that moment where I'm fine tuning events, double checking the bookings and (fingers crossed) making sure all will go well on the day. Here's a photo that illustrates the wonderful people who will be volunteering their time to share their books, stories and creativity....and of course, there will be little old me reading stories and telling tales.... http://worldbookday.com/

I'm playing a bit of catch-up here...(this time of year, I get soooo lethargic. Sorry.) On the 27th of January, the longlist for this years Branford Boase award was announced. The Branford Boase Award was set up to not only honour excellence in writing and publishing for young people, but also to celebrate new writers and their forward-thinking publishers. The award is made once a year to the most promising book published for ages seven and up. This years' nominees are: 1. Bone Jack by Sara Crowe, edited by Charlie Sheppard and Eloise Wilson (Andersen Press) 2. A Room full of Chocolate by Jane Elson, edited by Naomi Greenwood (Hodder Children’s Books 3. Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret by DD Everest edited by Alice Swan and Toni Markiet (Faber Children’s Books) 4. Broken Strings by Maria Farrer, edited by Helen Thomas (Scholastic). 5. The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss, edited by Jane Griffiths (Simon & Schuster) 6. Cowgirl by Giancarlo Gemin,...

The list for the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards have been announced today. But before I post about that I want to congratulate the winners of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Awards for  New Writer and New Illustrator. The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is responsible for many programmes in support of children, schools, public libraries....any institution or people dedicated to highlighting excellence and diversity in childrens literature. To this end, the Ezra Jack Keats Awards were established to honour writers and illustrators whose work continues in the spirit of Keats. Ezra Jack Keats created a number of wonderful and innovative picture books that broke barriers and crossed social boundaries in its' celebration and depiction of the world of childhood. His 1962 classic, The Snowy Day , shows the world of children in the tenements and empty lots on a day filled with snow. There is loneliness, friendship, joy, wonder and courage. Keats believed that children of colour had the es...

February is here now. (Happy St Bridgets Day, by the way.) January flew past (thank goodness). For the next couple of weeks, I will be very busy organising the annual World Book Day Extravaganza that I have been hosting for 10 years now at Dubray Books Galway branch. This is my favourite event(s) of the year, as I do so look forward to seeing all the young faces starting their reading lives. If I am a small part of that, I really feel something important has happened in my life. (Seriously...so joyous and fulfilling.) But more about WBD later. In the last two weeks, I did something so simple, and yet, I feel so very important. As you may know, I am a big supporter of school libraries. Well, libraries in general; but school libraries are one of the most important resources in a childs' life. It saddens me that every school does not have a designated library. This is pivotal to their education...and to their lives. When I was a child, and also as a teenager, my favourite place i...